Even allowing for over-the-top campaign rhetoric, it seems pretty hard to associate the suburban women of the Chathams with Antifa.

Peter King is trying.

“Chatham Moms for Change, a Modern Hate Group?” is the provocative headline on a lengthy letter circulated this week by King, the vice-chair of the Morris County Republican Committee.

In short, King’s missive alleges that the Democratic-leaning Chatham Moms group is guilty of “vile social media posts,” relentlessly and falsely attacking its opponents and stealing and vandalizing campaign signs.

In a chat this afternoon, King said these tactics are designed to intimidate people.

“My opinion is that they’re trying to suppress people’s free speech,” King said. And that, he added, is how hate groups flourish.

King’s letter is filled with generalizations, but an individual he criticizes by name is Jocelyn Mathiasen, a councilwoman in Chatham Borough. (For the record, there are two Chathams – a borough and a township; these are separate municipalities, but the demographics are similar and one school district serves both towns).

King says Mathiasen spends much time engaged in “dueling posts” with the constituents she’s been elected to serve.

Reached by phone this morning, Mathiasen said of King’s letter, “I mostly just try to ignore the whole thing, it’s silly.”

Some things here are beyond dispute.

One is that the Chathams have changed politically big time. A Republican bastion a decade or so ago, Democrats are now a majority on the governing bodies of both towns.

More broadly speaking, it was suburban women who keyed much of the success Democrats had in the 2018 midterm election, both across the nation and locally. In Morris County, they were strong backers of  two large marches in Morristown that year – one for women’s rights and the other for gun control.

Similar to others, the Chatham Moms group popped up around the time of Donald Trump’s election. On its Facebook page, the group describes itself this way:

“At its inception, members of the community felt marginalized and unheard and formed this group. Over the past four years, there have been tens of thousands of moments of supportive messaging, political activism, education and volunteerism. Members at times have vented frustrations with local and national challenges, but the mission and our actions remain the same; to provide a place of support to empower its members to have a voice and make positive change in our community.”

King is not impressed by this romantic notion of civic involvement.

He points to posts that he says wish COVID-19 on political opponents, ridicule minorities who support Republicans and label Republicans in the Chathams as racists, homophobes, misogynists and white supremacists.

Of course, it’s necessary to ask, “Isn’t this the normal course of events in an incredibly divisive election?” After all, I have heard much GOP rhetoric that labels Democrats as socialists and communists who support mobs running amok in the street.

King argues that in the Chathams, the strident rhetoric has morphed into destructive action.

Turns out that Laura Ali, the chair of the Morris County Republican Committee, lives in Chatham Township. She recently reported to police that signs on her property backing police and the president were stolen.

King’s letter says the signs were defaced with such things as “F Pigs,” “F the NRA.” and dumped outside the township police station. The letter also said that the perpetrators “screamed vulgar insults at officers.” He said many Republicans now fear publicly stating their opinions.

The police confirmed most of this in a Facebook post, adding that the suspects are “3 white females,” one of whom may have pink hair.

Pink hair?

She shouldn’t be that hard to find. The Chathams have changed, but this is not yet the East Village.